Banks to Compensate For Delay in Clearance of Local Cheques : RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to compensate customers for any delay in clearance of local cheques. This means that, banks should compensate customers monetarily, if a cheque to be credited in an account on Tuesday, for instance, gets delayed until Thursday.

RBI in a note to the banks, said that, banks should maintain a Cheque Clearance Policy (CCP) containing the details of the compensation amount they would pay customers for any delay in collection and clearance of local cheques. The central bank also said that, if this policy does not include the amount payable for delay, then banks should compensate customers by paying the savings account rate for the corresponding period of delay.

RBI clarified that, there would not be any change in the earlier guidelines regarding realisation and compensation for delay in clearance of outstation cheques. Banks are required to collect outstation cheques within 14 days and in case of delay, they have to compensate customers with interest rate equivalent to fixed interest rate for the corresponding period of delay.